Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Drama
Year: 2022
Running time: 2 hours
Director: Raj Mehta
Cast: Anil Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Varun Dhawan, Neetu Kapoor
Kid rating: PG-13
Jug jugg Jeeyo is about a dysfunctional family in which the son, Kukkoo (Varun Dhawan) and the daughter-in-law Naina (Kiara Advani) live in Toronto, Canada, far from their families in Punjab. Kukkoo, although initially in love with his childhood sweetheart has grown apart from her. Ditto for her. They both want a divorce but decide to keep mum until Kukkoo’s sister’s wedding, which is happening soon, is over. When they reach India however they discover that theirs is not the only marriage breaking up.
The film is situated in Patiala, Punjab in a traditional family setup where the father (Anil Kapoor) is a patriarch and the head of the family, and the mother (Neetu Kapoor) is the loving, considerate care-taker of the family, feeding everyone parathas (remember this is Punjab, per Bollywood standards). I also say typically Punjabi because this is full of sound effects and music and little comedic asides. Every scene has dhol or music or some reference to party-sharty/khana-shana/daaru-shaaru/Punjabi munde so it’s very loud – it is a Karan Johar production through and through.
The film tries to show that people can grow apart at any point in their lives for many different reasons. It also emphasizes that marriage takes effort from both partners, but tries to do it without allocating any blame (even where it’s due!). While Kukoo feels threatened by his wife’s professional success, his father wants to leave his wife for another woman. Kukkoo is shown as a little repentant and realizing his mistakes, while Papaji who could take some learning, is essentially unchanged. It’s all very macho Punjabi – with a hefty dose of the boys-will-be-boys philosophy.
While the broad theme of Jug Jugg Jeeyo is obvious the film does not have a strong screenplay, so there are lots of little incidents juxtaposed around each other without coherence. Too much noise and too little substance (director Raj Meta’s last venture was Good Newzz) ! It feels very much like a script-less film, almost as though they started with one idea and just kept building little scenes as the fancy took them.
Even so the film is not un-entertaining. All the actors actually do well. Anil Kapoor is his usual energetic self, although a tad one-tone, as the patriarch who misses the whiff of romance. Varun Dhawan as Kukoo is his robustly Punjabi son, hankering for the homeland. Neetu Kapoor is quite lovely as the domestic mater with a mind of her own and Kiara Advani, as beautiful daughter-in-law Naina is quite believable. My favorite scene of the film had the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law having a wonderful heart-to-heart over wine.
While Jug Jugg Jeeyo is not going to win any awards for authenticity, it is is a decent Friday night entertainer. Don’t go looking for subtlety and deep meaning in this loud melodrama, and you will be well pleased.
Kidwise: Couple of borderline salacious scenes featuring a bachelor party and women, although nothing explicit is ever shown on screen.
